WEEK TWO: GROW GROUP NOTES ‘EXPECTING THE BEST’

Using The Daring Faith Grow Group guide:

• These notes are to help you to get the most out of this series. They are a guide though, and so feel free to adapt the format to meet the needs of your group. If your group is more mature and wants to dig deeper, consider using the Diving Deeper section or add additional Scripture and ask suitable questions.

• The accompanying DVD has a short presentation from Rick Warren, discussing the theme for this week, and poising some questions and challenges to discuss afterwards as a group. If at all possible, watch through each session before you lead the group, so that you know how to facilitate responding to what is said, and what a relevant application looks like for your group’s needs.

• Your goal as the leader is to bring the group into a stimulating discussion that helps the members recognise their needs for personal life change. Ultimately you want them to be willing to commit to change - to step into a life of Daring Faith - in a community where there is encouragement, challenge and accountability to the group.

Suggestions for This Week’s Study

• Ask several group members to suggest things or situations from everyday life that are sometimes hard to believe.

• Help group members understand what it means from God’s perspective to “believe” in Jesus. Discuss examples of how that kind of belief should look in their lives.

• Pray: Jesus, we want to have real faith in you – not fake faith, but daring faith. Thank you for dying for our sins and showing us the way to live. Today we want to follow your example and accept your gift of peace and eternal life. We need your forgiveness and mercy, and we want to invest our lives in serving you. We want to trust your wisdom and strength, and learn to hold onto your promises even when

times are tough. We want you to be the Lord of our lives, so please accept us into your family.

Open your group in prayer

What was discussed in this week’s sermon? What were the main things everyone remembers? Did you experience God’s presence in some way this week? Has your faith grown in some way this week?

“This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29 (NLT)

On the first Easter morning when Jesus’ disciples John and Peter went to the place where Jesus had been buried, they found an empty tomb with the body gone. When John saw this, he believed in Jesus’ resurrection, though until then the disciples had not understood the Scriptures about Jesus rising from the dead.

John 6:29 above says that God wants us to believe in Jesus. The word “believe” appears 250 times in the New Testament, and God’s people are called “believers.”

The question “Do you dare to believe?” may be the most important question in your life. In this discussion we’ll consider several aspects of what it means to believe in Jesus.

“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. … Even the demons believe this.” James 2:19 (NLT)

Discussion Points: 1. Even the devil, who tried to tempt Jesus, believed there was only one God and that Jesus was his

son. What is the difference between that kind of knowledge about Jesus and the kind of belief that God wants from us?

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heartthat God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 (NIV)

2. What do you think “Lord” means in this verse?

3. If you pray to God every day asking to live by God’s will and not your will, what changes might take place in your life?

“For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christbut also the privilege of suffering for him.” Philippians 1:29 (NLT)

4. Why is this kind of suffering a privilege? Why would God want us to suffer for our belief?

5. What kinds of sufferings based on your beliefs in Jesus have you experienced that truly impacted your life in a personal way?

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6. You may think you believe in Jesus, but how can you know for sure? What evidence should there

be in your life to show that your heart believes in Jesus, and not just your brain?

Diving Deeper (optional):

“God gives strength to those who are tired;to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.” Isaiah 40:29 (NET)

1. What kinds of God’s power have helped you in overcoming life difficulties? 2. When people feel God has not forgiven them, what problems might arise in their lives?

What are examples of things that may cause people to lose their faith?

How can we trust what God says and promises when our lives don’t go as expected and we feel a lot of pain?

Nearly everyone will agree that the Bible is more trustworthy than typical TV programs about news and popular personalities, so why do we usually spend so much more time getting information from TV than from the Bible?

Watch the Daring Faith DVD, Session 2

Facilitate a discussion around the content - questions, scriptures, challenges, & applications - that Rick Warren raised in the video.

Pray for these things, and pray for one another’s week ahead. What practical steps can each person take to build a life of daring faith this week?

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